Remembering Rackhams: 'The Harrods of the north'

"It was called the Harrods of the north," John Deeley says, wistfully, recalling his time at the celebrated department store, Rackhams.

When the business opened in Birmingham in 1881, it quickly became known as the go-to place for high-end goods and striking displays.

"People came to us because of the quality. Here in Birmingham it was a premier store," Deeley said.

"I had a ball, it was like a great family working there. It was called the Harrods of the north in the retail circles and it was quality,"

Starting off as a window dresser with the firm in the early 1960s, he would go on to be their manager of display and presentation by the late 1980s.

"The best memory I have is when I did a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs display," he said.

"We recreated all the scenes across the front of the windows and it was tremendous.

"We even had coach-loads of people coming from Japan just to see our windows. There was no merchandise in the windows - it was just Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

The Rackhams brand had its beginnings in 1851, when William Winter Riddell and Henry Wilkinson opened a retail drapery shop at 78 Bull street, according to the House of Fraser Archive.

Their place grew into a wholesale branch on Temple Row in 1863.

John Rackham and William Matthews, who were apprentices for eight years, were promoted to buyers by 1878.

The retail side of the business was transferred to them in 1881 and the seeds of the future thriving brand were sown.

During World War Two, the Bull Street and Temple Row premises suffered a direct hit, destroying about a third of the store.

In 1955, Rackhams was acquired by Harrods Ltd and then, four years later, Harrods itself was taken over by House of Fraser.

A new Rackhams store on Corporation Street opened in stages between 1960 and 1966 and became one of the city's most popular department stores.

Although it was rebranded as House of Fraser in the 2000s, it remained affectionately known locally as Rackhams.

Deeley has captured his memories in a book, Windows on the World, which looks back at Rackhams' stores, displays and staff between 1960 and 1980.

"It went down market and it lost its edge," he said, about the rebrand.

"We knew our customers and you could buy some fantastic things there, I can remember putting Christian Dior in the windows.

"We were fortunate that we were there in the heyday of retail.

"We used to have customers in the store in the evenings and would close the store so that they could go around and shop at peace, very famous people."

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